According to a report this week from KAFA in the Legal Agenda, officials are pushing a law that would ban "romantic relationships" for migrant workers.

So when a Lebanese sponsor is finalizing paperwork to practically enslave another human, they are asked to sign a document stating that they will not engage in romantic relationships or marry the domestic worker who they are sponsoring. Additionally, the migrant workers are not allowed to marry anyone else, whether Lebanese or foreign, during their stay in Lebanon or else they face deportation.

With this racist and regressive law, Lebanon is actually doing migrant workers a favor. Lebanese laws and institutions do very little to protect women from abuse, and even less to protect wives from their husbands when horrible things like marital rape come into play.

The Lebanese government has always been great at hindering the rights of minorities, and has targeted domestic workers for a long time. This new law only strengthens the already defective sponsorship (kafala) system, and gives employers the right to further violate the personal and psychological freedoms of migrant workers.

Sponsors are asked to be responsible for ensuring that their domestic worker is not engaging in any relationship with anyone in Lebanon. It treats these workers as sub-human robots who aren't allowed to love, have personal relationships, or fulfill their psychological needs. It is modern-day slavery.

Imagine if Lebanese people weren’t allowed to marry while they work abroad. Three-quarters of the Lebanese population wouldn’t exist.

So, migrant workers, there you have it. You’ve been prohibited from marrying Lebanese people – and this may very well be the best thing that’s ever happened to you.